Ann Anat 191 (2009) 371—378 RESEARCH ARTICLE Anatomical evaluation of oral microcirculation: Capillary characteristics associated with sex or age group Scardina Giuseppe Alessandro à , Cacioppo Antonino, Pietro Messina University of Palermo, Department of Oral Sciences ‘‘G.Messina’’, Via del Vespro, 129 90127 Palermo, Italy Received 20 March 2009; received in revised form 24 March 2009; accepted 21 April 2009 KEYWORDS Capillaries; Microcirculation; Microscopic angioscopy; Mouth mucosa; Oral medicine; Capillaroscopy Abstract Background: There are various types of oral mucosa specific to different parts of the mouth and each of these has a unique histological structure. The variations in the epithelial structure are consistently related to observable differences in the underlying microcirculation: i.e. differences in the course, conformation, and density of capillaries. The aim of this research has been to investigate oral microcirculatory differences between men and women as well as between various age groups, in order to map the oral mucosa, and to highlight changes occurring during aging. Methods: A total of 45 healthy subjects were enrolled for this study (12 men and 33 women; mean age 60.37; range 30–82). A complete in-vivo videocapillaroscopic mapping of the oral mucosa was done on each subject. Results: The capillaroscopic patterns of the various areas differ particularly in the course of the loops in relation to the mucosal surface. On the basis of statistical analysis of the collected data, it emerges that there are many differences in capillary loop density between men and women and between different age groups. Conclusion: This study demonstrates the necessity of approaching the investigation of patient microcirculation in different ways depending on sex or age. & 2009 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. Introduction The oral mucosa should be considered as a complex unit composed of various anatomical and histological structures sharing the same embryonic origin and the same anatomical location inside the human body. The similarities end here, however. As a matter of fact, the various types of oral mucosa at different locations have unique histolo- gical structures: i.e. differences in the number of cellular layers; presence or absence of the surface keratinized layer; a difference in thickness; and so ARTICLE IN PRESS www.elsevier.de/aanat 0940-9602/$ - see front matter & 2009 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.aanat.2009.04.004 à Corresponding author. E-mail address: Scardina@odonto.unipa.it (S. Giuseppe Alessandro).